Vending machines



Nov. 21, 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 04 ilzzlz'avzfliaiiwz WWW ATTORNEY 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR 3,009,556

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATT'ORNEY Nov. 21,1961 w. P. DILLON, JR 3,009,556

VENDING MACHINES Filed Aug. 12, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 M 3 j k? if!INVENTOR WZZZz'a/m 1? JzZZara, J2:

ATTORNEY Nov. 21, 1961 w. P. DILLON, JR

VENDING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Aug. 12, 1958 INVENTORWi'liz'azrzffizZh 5' ATTORNEY is the modification of vending UnitedStates Patent 3,009,556 VENDING MACHINES William P. Dillon, Jr., 3206Grace St. NW., Washington, DC. Filed Aug. 12, 1958, Ser. No. 754,618 3Claims. (Cl. 194-75) The present invention relates to improvements instamp vending machines and more particularly to vending machines whichare operated by the depression of an operating handling which causes ashaft to rotate and then return to its initial position to thereby powerweb feeding, cutting and delivering mechanisms.

The present invention is particularly directed to improvements invending machines of the general type disclosed in the patent to WilliamV. Derby, No. 2,139,578, dated December 6, 1938, and especially relatesto improvements enabling the operating handle to be operative with ashorter stroke requiring a minimum operating pressure. A furtherimportant feature of the invention machines as described in the saidDerby patent to enable the stamps supplied to include an upwardlyextending lead stamp for the purpose of facilitating the grasping of thestamps which are supplied by the person operating the vending machine.Still further, the operating handle and its associated mechanism are allmounted on the frame independent of the machine housing to facilitateremoval of the housing without disturbing the operating parts of thevending machine and to facilitate side by side placement of two or morevending units.

Other and further features of the invention will become apparent fromthe description which follows taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a stamp vending machine constructed inaccordance with the present invention, the vending machine being shownwith the operating handle thereof in its elevated or normal initialposition;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the stamp vending machine shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line 33- of FIG. 2 showing a governorlinkage which is desirably employed for limiting the speed of theoperating handle in its return movement to elevated position;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are similar to FIG. 4 and show a step by step sequencein the operation of the stamp vending machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 shows anintermediate position with the operating handle partly depressed so thatthe stamp folding lever has been swung into a position of initialcontact with the stamp supplying strip. FIG. 6 illustrates a furtherstep in the operation corresponding to the operating handle in its fullydepressed position. FIG. 7 shows a position intermediate the return ofthe operating handle to its initial elevated position. This intermediateposition is selected to illustrate the position of the various operatingparts immediately atfer the cutting knife has severed the stamps to besupplied from the strip thereof;

FIG. 8 is similar to .FIG. 1 and illustrates the operating mechanismwith the operating handle in its fully depressed position;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section the line 10-10 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 4 with some of the levers omitted for thepurpose of illustrating the knife release action;

FIG. 12 is a section taken on the line 1212 of FIG. 11;

taken approximately along 3,009,556 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 FIG. 13 is adetail perspective view of the knife relcasing component parts;

FIG. 14 is a detailed view of coin slot closing mechanism, this viewbeing taken on the line '1414 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 15 is an elevation of the coin receiver;

FIG. 16 is a cross-section taken on the line 1616 of FIG. 15, and

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the stamps as they are supplied by thestamp vending machine of the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the stamp vending machine10 comprises a housing 11 including a pair of upstanding plates 12 and13 mounted upon a base 14. The vending machine 10 includes a coinreceiver 15 mounted upon a plate 16 which is secured between the plates12 and 13 at the upper extremity of the vending machine 10', anoperating mechanism 17 which is mounted between the plates 12 and 13upon the operating shaft 18 and an actuating mechanism 19 including anoperating handle 20' which projects through a slot in the housing 11 andterminates at its forward end in a finger rest 21. The operating handle20 is a bell crank lever pivoted at 22 to the side plate 12 and includesa lower forwardly and downwardly extending arm 23.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the coin receiver 15 includes a coin slot 24and the vending machine 10 is intended to be rendered inoperative untila coin is deposited in the coin slot 24.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 8, the actuating mechanism 19includes an operating lever 25 secured to shaft 18, the lever 25comprising an upwardly projecting arm 26 carrying upper and lowersidewardly projecting lugs 27 and 28, respectively, a forwardlyprojecting arm 29 carrying forward and rearward sidewardly projectinglugs 30 and 31, respectively, and rearwardly projecting sector 32. Afixed pivot 33 extends sidewardly from the sideplate 13 and is fixedwith respect thereto to pivotally support the lower end of link 34. Theupper end of link 34 is pivotally connected to an upper operating link35, the trailing end of which is longitudinally slotted as indicated at36 and a lower operating link 37 which is longitudinally slotted asindicated 'at 38. As illustrated in FIG. 1, when the operating handle'20 is in its elevated position, the upper operating link 35 ispositioned with the lug 27 at the forwardmost end of the slot 36 sothat, upon a downward movement of the operating handle 20, the upperoperating link 35 will immediately act upon the lug 27 to swing theoperating lever 25 and thereby rotate the shaft 18. As will later morefully appear, the lower operating link 37 does not immediately engagethe lug 28 so that control of the operating lever 25 by the loweroperating link 37 is deferred until the terminal portion of the downwardstroke of the operating handle 20.

The upper end of the link 34 is connected to the lower arm 23 of thebell crank operating handle 20 by means of the connecting rod 39.

Pivoted to the side plate 13 at 40* is a pivotable spring mount 41, theforwardly projecting arm 29 of the operat ing lever 25 being resilientlybiased toward the spring mount 41 by means of a pair of springs 42 and43 mounted to straddle the pivot 40. The spring 42 which is remote fromthe operating shaft 18 is connected :to the forward lug 30 and thespring 43 which is close to the shaft 18 is connected to the rear lug31. When the operating handle 20 is in its elevated position shown inFIG. 1, spring 42 is under tension sufiicient to force operating lever25 into its initial position shown in FIG. 1. Spring 43 is also undertension and desirably holds the spring mount 41 horizontal. The lug 30,being further from shaft 18 than the lug 31, swings through a greaterare and spring 42 is unduly extended as handle 20 'ap proaches thebottom of its stroke. This undesirable increase in resistance to thedepression of handle 20 is minimized by the pivotal movement of springmount 41 as illustrated in FIG. 8 (note arrow 44).

As can be seen in FIG. 1, upper operating link 35 is operative to rotateoperating lever 25 at the beginning of the downward movement of handle20 since upper lug 27 is at the forward end of slot 36. As lever 25 rtates, lower lug 28 moves more slowly than lower link 37 and finallycontacts the forward end of slot 38 so that lower link 37 takes over theburden of transmitting movement of handle 20 to lever 25. At thebeginning of the stroke, a knife is cocked against spring pressure andthe mechanical advantage achieved by bearing against upper lug 27 isutilized to ease the pressure requirement. After the knife is cocked,the pressure burden is eased and mechanical advantage is sacrificed byhaving lower lug 28 become operative to minimize the required length ofstroke of the handle 20.

As a result of the dual propulsion of operating lever 25 via handle 20,arm 23, connecting rod 39, link 34, upper and lower links 35 and 37 withtheir slots 36 and 38 and utilizing lugs 27 and 28 and the dualretraction of operating lever 25 via pivot 40, spring mount 41, springs42 and 43 and lugs 30 and 31 pressure requirements for moving handle 20are minimized and, at the same time, the operating stroke of handle 20is also minimized.

A dog 45, pivoted at 46 and spring biased at 47 is used to insure thatoperation of handle 20 must be completed before springs 42 and 43 areeffective to return operating lever 25 to its initial position.

In accordance with preferred construction, the powering lever 48 isconnected via link 49 to a governor 50 having a flywheel 51 to limit thevelocity of the return of handle 20 to its elevated position (see FIG.3). The handle 20 is elevated by spring 52 secured between the lower endof link 34 and the free end of arm 23.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 9, the operating mechanism 17 comprises aplurality of levers mounted upon the opperating shaft 18. Secured to theshaft 18 is a powering lever 48, the remaining levers being free torotate about the shaft '18. With reference to FIG. 9, it will be seenthat the shaft 18 supports, in addition to the powering lever 48, aninner lever 53 carrying an eccentrically mounted knife setting pin 54,the inner lever 53 being secured to a sleeve or collar 55 whichrotatably surrounds the shaft 18. Fixed to the inner end of the sleeve55 is a stamp folding lever 56 and mounted upon the sleeve 55 adjacentthe stamp folding lever 56 is a knife adjusting lever 57 and, adjacentsaid knife adjusting lever 57 is a knife holding lever 58. Mountedadjacent the stamp folding lever 56 on the side opposite to the knifeadjusting lever 57 is a coin discharge lever 59. The operation of thecoin discharge lever 59 will be described hereinafter.

Mounted upon the stamp folding lever 56 is a coin triggered lever 60,the powering lever 48 being formed with an inwardly extending flange 61which is normally locked with the coin triggered lever 60. As will latermore fully appear, when a coin is inserted in the coin slot 24', andwhen the coin discharge lever 59 is operated to discharge the coin, thecoin triggered lever 60 is not effected by the downward movement of theoperating handle 20 so that the normally locked position of the flange61 is maintained and the movement of the powering lever 48 istransmitted to the remaining levers which operate the stamp supplyingmechanisms.

The coin triggered lever 60 is pivoted at 62 to the stamp folding lever56 and is provided with a rearwardly projecting hook 63 which is springbiased by means of spring 64 to cause the hook 63 to grasp flange 61 ofpowering lever 48. The lever 60 is provided with a flange 65 whichnormally is positioned to be engaged by 2. depending coin-pivoted lever66 which acts via stop flange 67 to pivot the lever 60 about pivot 62 tomove hook 63 out of engagement with flange 61. Accordingly, unless acoin is deposited in slot 24, the powering ever 48 becomes disengagedfrom the stamp folding lever 56 so that movement of handle 20 isineffective to achieve any of the stamp supplying operations.

As the powering lever 48 swings, the stamp folding lever 56 moves withthe powering lever 48 as explained hereinabove and the knife adjustinglever is carried with the stamp folding lever via the adjustableinterconnecting pin 68 which extends through suitable openings in theknife adjusting lever 57. At the same time coin discharge lever 59 alsoswings as a result of spring pressure applied by the spring 69 whichextends between a flange 70 on the rear of the coin discharge lever 59and the free end of the inner lever 53. In this manner, the coindeposited in the slot 24 is ejected from the coin receiver 15. The coindischarge lever 59 is maintained in the position shown in FIG. 4 beforethe handle 20 has been operated by a sidewardly extending lug 71 on thestamp folding lever 56. As previously indicated, the stamp folding lever56 extends from the sleeve 55 (see FIG. 9) and, accordingly, theswinging movement imposed upon the stamp folding lever 56 by thepowering lever 48 is transmitted to the inner lever 53.

It will be observed that the pin 54 carried by the inner lever 53 iseccentrically positioned with respect to the shaft 18 so that the pin 54swings downwardly through an are when the operating handle 20 isdepressed.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, the pin 54 engages with a knife depressingslide 72 and particularly with a hookportion 73 which is formed in thelower end of the slide 72. The upper end of the slide 72 is formed witha slot 74 which is guided on the headed guide pin 75. The slide 72 isresiliently held in elevated position by the spring 76, one end of whichis secured to the slide 72 and the other end of which is fixed to theupstanding plate 13. When the inner lever 53 is rotated, the pin 54swings downwardly to lower the slide 72 and then, upon further swingingmovement of the pin 54, the slide 72 is freed for return movement by thespring 76. The slide 72 is formed with a lug carrying flange 77, the lugof which extends through a longitudinal slot 78 in a knife lowering link79. Thus, when the slide 72 is lowered, the lug carried by the flange 77lowers the link 79 to lower the knife 80.

It will be observed in FIGS. 4 and 5 that the knife holding lever 58having a knife holding recess 81 is resiliently biased by spring 82against the knife 80. When the knife 89 is lowered sufliciently by theslide 72, it assumes a position opposite the recess 81 and the lever 58moves forwardly by means of spring 82 so that the knife is trappedwithin the recess 81. Thereafter, upon further swinging movement of theinner lever 53, the knife setting pin 54 swings out of the hook 73 ofthe slide 72 and the slide 72 moves upwardly via spring 76, this upwardmovement being permitted by movement of the lug carried by the flange 77Within the slot 78 in the knife lowering link 79.

The knife adjusting lever 57 carries an inwardly ex tending lug 100which moves past a platform 84 pivotally connected to the knife holdinglever 58. On the return movement of handle 20, lug 100 engages platform84 and moves the knife holding lever 58 to release the knife 80 fromwithin the recess 81. The action of the lug 10% upon the platform 84will be described more fully hereinafter.

With reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the stamp folding lever 56 isprovided at its free end with an inwardly extending stamp folding andconveying flange 85. As will be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the flange 85 isswung through a stamp conveying channel 86 which terminates at the knife80 in a knife block 87, and thence across a stamp guide plate 88 whichis overlain by a pair of stamp folding pins 89.

The stamps are supplied in strip form from a roll 90 which is trainedabout a recessed element constituted by a centrally grooved roller 91and thence beneath the platform 88, the strip of stamps being heldagainst the underside of the platform 88 by the strip guide 92, thestrip guide 92 being resiliently biased into stamp holding position bymeans of the spring 93.

It will be observed in FlG. 4 that the strip of stamps includes aportion extending forwardly of the platform 88, this forwardly extendingportion of the strip of stamps be ing constituted by the free end of thestrip of stamps remaining after operation of the knife 80 upon theprevious section of stamps and being identified by the numeral 94. Theforwardly extending portion 94 is thrust upwardly by the strip guide 92as shown in FIG. 4. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the stamp folding flange85 has swung past the channel 86 and engaged the underside of theforwardly extending portion 94 'of the strip of stamps. Further swingingmovement of the stamp folding lever 56 carries the flange 85 further tothe rear of the stamp section 94 and the flange 85 carries the forwardlyupwardly extending portion 94 beneath the stamp folding pins 89whereafter the flange 85 passes over the projecting portion 94 and theresilience of the strip of stamps elevates the free end of the portion94 above the flange 85 as shown in FIG. 6. Upon the return stroke of thestamp folding lever 56, the flange 85 catches the folded stamps (theforward surface of flange 85 carries pins which engage with theperforations between adjacent stamps) and the forwardly extendingportion 94 is carried by the flange 85 into the channel 86 carrying with.it the strip of stamps from the stamp roll 90. When the flange 85 hasmoved a suflicient distance to withdraw the proper number of stamps fromthe roll 90, as shown in FIG. 7, the cutter 80 is released to sever thegroup of stamps being conveyed through the channel 86 by the flange 85and to provide a new forwardly extending portion of stamps 94.

FIG. illustrates some details of construction and it will be seen thatthe roller 91 is formed with a central recess 95 into which a feeler arm96 can move when the strip supplied from stamp roll 90 is exhausted. Thefeeler arm 96 is employed to indicate the exhaustion of stamps bypivoting a flag to cover the coin slot 24.

The release of the knife 80 is more clearly illustrated in FIGS. ll, 12and 13. Referring to these figures it will be seen that the knifeholding lever 58 has pivotally sethe exception of a slight furtherforward movement which takes place for the purpose of locking the knife80 in the recess 81. When the lever 58 is stopped after an intermediateswing, the stamp folding lever 56 continues its swinging movementcarrying with it the knife adjusting lever 57 being illustrated withparticular clarity in FIG. 12.

The knife adjusting lever 57 is formed with a plurality of openings 99through which the pin 68 may project to vary the position of an inwardlyprojecting lug 100. The platform 84 is spring biased downwardly byspring 101 and the forward end of the arm 98 is formed with an upin thepath of a lug 103 which extends downwardly beneath the channel 86. Onthe initial swing of knife holding lever 58, lug 103 bears againct thecam surface 102 to pivot the arm 98 and remove the platform 84 frompermit the lug 100 to pass the platform 84. After the cam 102 passes thelug 103, spring 101 returns the platform 84 to its lowermost position.Upon the return swinging movement of the knife adjusting lever 57, thelug 100 strikes the platform 84 and moves the platform 84 and with itthe knife holding lever 58 to release the knife 80. On this return swingof lever 57, the cam 102 again engages lug 103 to permit the lug 100 topass platform 84 after knife 80 is released.

The vending machine desirably includes a mechanism indicating exhaustionof stamps which is shown on an enlarged scale in FIGS. 14, 15 and 16. Ascan be seen in FIG. 14, the feeler arm 96 is normally in the positionshown in full lines, the arm 96 being prevented from entering the recess95 of the roller 91 by the strip of stamps. When the strip of stamps isexhausted, the arm 96 is drawn upwardly by the spring 104 which issecured to a crank extension of the arm 96. The end of the arm 96 remotefrom the recess 95 is formed with an upwardly extending member engagingwith the link 105. As can be seen in FIG. 14, the link 105 is moved tothe left (to the right in FIG. 15) and this pivots the flag 106 from theposition shown in full lines in FIG. 15 to the position shown in phantomwhere it covers the slot 24, the flag 106 pivoting about the pivot 107.

The overall operation of the stamp vending machine of the invention canbe briefly set forth as follows:

When the handle 20' is depressed, the shaft 18 is rotated in acounter-clockwise direction in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7, swinging thepowering lever 48 in a counter clockwise direction. If a coin has beendeposited in slot 24, the coin discharge lever 59 ejects the'coin in amanner which will be described hereinafter to lower the coin pivot lever66. With the lever 66 in lowered position, the coin triggered lever 60remains in position grasping the flange 61 of the powering lever 48 sothat the operating mechanism 17 will be operated by the rotation ofshaft 18. As the various levers swing in a counterclockwise direction,the knife '80 is lowered by the pin 54 acting upon the slide 72 and theknife holding lever 58 bears resiliently upon the knife until the knife80 is lowered sufficiently to enable lever 58 to move and trap the knife80 in recess 81. The stamp folding lever 56 continues to swing in acounter-clockwise direction until the flange draws the stamps beneaththe folding pin 89 and finally, at the end of the downward thrust of thehandle 20, the flange 85 passes over the free end of the stamps and thestamps flip upwardly so that the flange 85 will grasp the stamps at thefold upon its return movement toward the channel 86. During the returnmovement of flange 85, the stamps are drawn from the roll into thechannel 86. When a sufiicient number of stamps (as determined by length)is drawn into channel 86, the lug on the knife adjusting lever 57engages the platform 84 to thrust the knife holding lever 58 in aclockwise direction to release the knife 80 and thereby sever thedesired length of stamps. These stamps are conveyed to an opening at theforward end of the channel 86 by the flange 85 on the return movement ofthe stamp folding lever 56. Since the stamps have been folded with anupward fold, the lead stamp projects upwardly as indicated at 108 tofacilitate grasping of the stamps which are supplied, the stamps assupplied being shown in perspective in FIG. 17 (see also FIG. 4). If thelead stamp were turned downwardly, as in the prior art, it would bedifficult to grasp, this being a disadvantage of prior art construction.

Referring again to FIG. 4, it will be seen that a coin deposited in slot24 will slide downwardly through the channel 109 and into acoin-receiving opening 110 in a coin slide 111, the coin slide beingformed with a downwardly extending flange 112. which is connected bymeans of link 113 to the upper extremity of the coin discharge lever 59.Upon operation of the coil slide 111, the coin is thrust rearwardly pasta cam extension 114 on the coin pivot lever 66, the coin thrusting thelever 66 downwardly as it passes over the cam 114 for the purposepreviously indicated. The coin is then deposited in an opening 115 whereit drops into a coin chute (not shown) thus preventing an accumulationof coins in the coin receiver 15 and thereby eliminating diflicultycaused by coins piling up in the coin receiver.

Referring to FIGS. 4, 15 and 16, a coin detent 116 is pivoted to pin 117so that, when one coin is deposited the slot 24 will not accept afurther coin. The pin 117 is supported by flanges 118.

The invention is more fully defined in the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In a vending machine comprising web supplying, cutting and deliveringmeans actuated by a shaft which is rotationally oscillated to operatesaid machine, the improvement comprising a powering lever secured tosaid shaft for back and forth pivotal movement with the rotationaloscillation of said shaft, a sidewardly projecting flange carried bysaid powering lever, said flange being oscillated by said powering leverthrough an arcuate path, a folding lever having means operative uponoscillation thereof to fold the web which is supplied, said foldinglever being freely mounted for pivotal movement about said shaft, a cointriggered lever pivoted to said folding lever and comprising a hookportion, spring means biasing said hook against said flange to key saidfolding lever to said powering lever, abutment means movably mounted andnormally positioned to contact said coin triggered lever upon swingingmovement thereof to cause said hook to release said flange andcoin-operated means for moving said abutment means out of the path ofsaid coin triggered lever.

2. An improvement as recited in claim 1 in which said abutment means ismounted for movement, said abutment means including a cam positioned inthe path of a coin slide, and said shaft carries a coin-ejecting leverwhich moves a coin deposited in said slide into contact with said cam tomove said abutment out of the path of said coin triggered lever so thatrotation of said shaft will be inoperative to actuate said websupplying, cutting and delivering means unless a coin is present in saidcoin slide.

3. In a vending machine comprising web supplying, cutting and deliveringmeans actuated by a shaft which is rotationally oscillated to operatesaid machine, the improvement comprising a coin receiver mounted tooverlie the operating mechanism of said machine and including a coinslot for the insertion of coins therein, a coin slide for receivingcoins inserted in said coin slot, a coin-ejecting lever mounted on saidshaft and connected with said coin slide whereby rotation of said shaftwill pivot said coinejecting lever to operate said coin slide andthereby eject a coin from said coin receiver, a powering lever securedto said shaft, movable means linking said powering lever to saidcoin-ejecting lever, said movable means being operative until moved toeffect said linking and being inoperative upon movement thereof toetfect said linking, means depending from said coin receiver andpositioned in the path of said movable means to move said movable meansunless said depending means is itself moved, said depending meansincluding a cam extending into said coin slide for contact and movementby a coin present therein whereby said depending means is moved out ofthe path of said movable means when a coin present in said coin slide isejected by said coin ejecting lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.13,549 Reichhelm Apr. 1, 1913 1,084,242 Werden Jan. 13, 1914 1,215,862Richardson Feb. 13, 1917 1,680,729 Davis Aug. 14, 1928 1,698,656 ReamJan. 8, 1929 1,898,146 Slezak Feb. 21, 1933 1,949,541 Hartman Mar. 6,1934 2,112,607 Pooley Mar. 29, 1938 2,139,578 Derby Dec. 6, 19382,158,790 Arthur May 16, 1939 2,165,744 Boettinger July 11, 19392,627,752 Nicolaus Feb. 10, 1953 2,706,020 Freers et al Apr. 12, 19552,725,228 Seward Nov. 29, 1955 2,742,282 Ervin et al. Apr. 17, 1956FOREIGN PATENTS 936,971 Germany Jan. 5, 1956

